Tag Archives: airbnb with pets

Airbnb Teeming with Spiders, Leaking Pipes

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We booked five nights at a house on Kentucky Lake for the family vacation; it was pet friendly for our two dogs. After driving five hours to get there in 98 degree heat we arrived to the house closed up and the window units not running; it must have been 150 degrees in there, and smelled very strongly of mold. We got the units turned on and then tried to get some water for the dogs. There was only a small trickle from the sink.

Then there was a knock at the door. The neighbor informed us (in a not friendly way) that the water was leaking at the top of the road and creating a nice river running down the hill. We messaged the host who actually was a very nice guy and he showed up promptly, and got the water running inside. Yet it continued to leak outside the entire time we were there.

While we waited one of the dogs chased a spider crawling on the floor. The next day there were spiders in our cooler that were thirsty; one was still alive. We decided to just drink alcohol and deal with it all… we decided to cook a frozen pizza. We heated up the oven and put the pizza in, and house proceeded to fill up with smoke since the oven was so dirty. There were obviously no smoke alarms in the house or they would have gone off. This was not safe and against Airbnb rules. My eyes burned from the smoke. Thank goodness I had eye drops with me.

We ended up leaving a day early and decided we’d laugh about this someday, but it’s going to be a while. Sorry I didn’t think to get pictures. I had nightmares about the spiders…

Bogus Host Posts Private Home as Ancient Castle Airbnb

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I was looking for my next stay while touring Scotland and Northern England as a freelance writer and blogger with a dog. I had stayed in a lovely cottage in rural Ayrshire for three weeks. It was time to move on and find the next interesting place to stay. Imagine my surprise and delight to find an Airbnb listed as an “Ancient Castle” in Scotby, Cumbria and ideal for people with mobility problems. I am near 60 and have creaky knees. It also said there was a gym and pool available.

I was not sure how it worked out, but the normal price was £139 per night, seemingly for group bookings. However, it came down to individuals and the way it worked out with the weekly booking discount seemed really cheap. Still a little suspicious, but hopeful, I booked two weeks between April 29th and May 11th. I would have stayed in Scotland but the opportunity was too good to miss if true. I bought a train ticket down to Cumbria and waited until the check-in time, between 2:00-4:00 PM, before hiring a taxi costing over £10.

Taxi droppped me off at a pub. I did Google it and thought maybe it was a property behind the pub or in the ground. They knew nothing about it and pointed out the address was further down the road. I walked a half mile and could not see anything which looked like a castle. It was a rural surburban street with beautiful but ordinary large semi-detached family homes. I looked at the numbers on the gates and at #39 and counting up reckoned that #47 was another semi a few houses along.

As I came up to #47, I felt embarrased; it was clearly a family home and not a castle. I wondered how I should do this: should I go up, knock on the door, and ask if they were an ancient castle? Would that make them think I was a mad woman? Just as I approached two teenage girls came up, knocked on the door, spoke to their mum and explained that they were just dropping off their things after school but going out to see friends. The girls shot past me and the mum still stood at the door. I shouted at her “Er, excuse me… could you help me? I am looking for #47, which according to this information on Airbnb is an ancient castle.”

The mum came up and looked. That was her address, and that was even her post code, but she did not have an ancient castle, just a family home. She did not do any hosting or hiring out spare rooms to Airbnb, She was concerned who was using her address, as anybody could turn up at her home and demand entry. What if just her children were at home, and let someone in, not knowing?

I got another taxi back into Carlisle and contacted Airbnb from a pub with wifi. As usual, they didn’t get back to me for the rest of the night. It was getting on and by 10:30 PM with accommodation being snapped up for the Easter weekend I found and booked cheap accommodation in a truckstop on the edge of town in the middle of an industrial estate. That was all I could do.

I did eventually get through to Airbnb, and it was a pathetic response. They did take the fake host and the posting down, but again seemed blasé and offered me £2.73 on top of the refund as compensation. It was a very small change for the extra expense. I would not have gone through the hassle and stress if their host had not advertised an innocent family’s home as an “Ancient Castle” and had strangers turning up at their front door demanding and expecting being put up for the night.

Airbnb did not really provide a satisfactory response to this with only £2.73 to help towards other accommodations. A host tried to evict me onto the streets during Beast from the East and did not care I had no transport. Over 13 people were killed at this time, including a seven year old girl. When will Airbnb take responsibility for the welfare and well-being of their guests?

Absolutely Filthy and Unhygienic Flat in Edinburgh

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I booked a stay for myself and my friend in a flat in Edinburgh hosted by a young couple. They were very nice in the messages exchanged, and when we got to the flat they were very friendly, kind, and accommodating. When we were shown to the bedroom, I could tell immediately that the floor wasn’t vacuumed because of the huge clump of brown hair in the middle of the floor plus all the lint everywhere. My friend and I tried to look past it because of how nice the hosts were.

Sadly, the immaturity of the hosts, and the filth of apartment making me physically ill caused us to check out two days early just to GTFO. As the days went by, things started becoming more and more distressing, but my friend and I really did our best to overlook the issues. First of all, the hosts are a Finnish woman and her much younger fiancé who is 23. I do not have any issues with age differences – in fact, I welcome them – but her spouse had all the maturity of a 15-year-old boy.

The first problem that came about from our stay was watching the terribly disrespectful dynamic between these two. The “Man Child” was exactly that; he refused to clean up after himself (he would leave his mess everywhere and wait for his girlfriend to clean once she got home from work), he somewhat proudly professed that he only eats chips (i.e. French fries), chicken nuggets, canned beans, and basically junk food, and he would stay at home all day on his days off or when he got home from work, sitting in the same spot in the living room, playing video games and yelling profanity at the TV screen.

I did not have much of a problem with the girlfriend because she was nice enough, though spineless. The Man Child completely ruined the stay because the apartment was absolutely filthy and it was mostly his doing. He expected his girlfriend to clean up after him, but she was only one person. He always left a perimeter of garbage (empty snack bags, take out bags, multitudes of empty Coke cans) and smelly dirty plates, bowls, and dishes around himself in the shared living room. What’s worse, is this guy expected guests to sit with him in the shared living room and socialize amongst his filth. The odor in the room was terrible. It smelled of whatever greasy food he ate, fart, feet, unwashed male, dog, and overall stagnation.

On their Airbnb profile, they asked that you clean up after yourself and respect their home. My friend and I did exactly that, but it’s difficult when the hosts themselves do not do the same. Man Child often left his cans of beans in the kitchen sink, and then he would emerge from his spot in the living room to greet you while being oblivious to the bean stains on his T-shirt. What’s more, the bathroom was always covered in brown hairs that obviously came from Man Child because he was the only person with brown hair. There were strands of brown hair all over the shower walls, and curly brown hairs scattered everywhere (which I sincerely hope were beard hairs) on the counter and bath tub.

Sometimes Man Child would mistakenly not close the door to their bedroom, and sadly we had to see the state of where they slept. It’s reminiscent of the bedroom of an angry and unhappy 13-year-old girl: piles of clothes literally everywhere, things and stuff strewn all over, and drawers that were broken and left like that. Holy slob, Batman. Watching the man child make his girlfriend do all the “woman’s work” was pretty unsettling. He straight up said that he would not do dishes. He did not do anything to help unless asked. I heard too many times his girlfriend asking “Man Child, come back and put the milk back in the fridge,” “Man Child, take out the rubbish,” “Man Child, put these away,” and so on.

The worst was one night when the girlfriend was making him dinner consisting of baked frozen French fries. When she had her back turned to Man Child (because she was doing the dishes) he took all the fries and left none for her. Her reaction was outraged yet restrained because we were sitting in the kitchen viewing the whole ordeal. I really liked this woman, but she allows herself to be blatantly disrespected like this, and of course, we cannot say anything to her; we are not friends, we are guests that paid to stay in their home.

Now, moving on to why we had to check out early, their apartment was so disgusting and dirty that I was getting progressively sicker. This apartment did have a big dog, and I do in fact have a pet allergy. Weeks before I got to Edinburgh I got in contact with the female host and asked if I would be okay in her home. She assured me that their dog was not allowed in the guest bedroom, so I made the booking falsely assuming what she said was true. I have stayed in other Airbnb’s with pets, and I managed just fine with one Claritin.

At this pig stein in Edinburgh, I found myself being consistently congested despite taking the meds, and I ended up developing a terrible and persistent dry barking cough that isn’t part of normal allergies. I was becoming more and more desperate to ask if I could vacuum their floors because I knew they were aggravating my allergies since who knows when they were last vacuumed. The carpets in the hall, the shared living room, and even the bedroom I was staying in seemed to have a thick layer of dust, dirt, hairs, and general filth. I kept telling the hosts that I am not allergic to dog hair, and I am allergic to dander. The hosts did not care.

For days I longed for the floors to be vacuumed because I knew it would make me feel better. Man Child kept saying “tomorrow I’m going to vacuum” and unfortunately I believed him. The false promise of cleaning started on a Thursday, and on Saturday I was so unwell that I was bedridden. My wheezing dry cough physically exhausted me, my eyes were red and swollen that they were nearly shut, and I ended up taking too much Claritin that it made me feel not like myself.

On Sunday morning I had had it. I went into the shared living room where the two hosts were hanging out, and I demanded that I (as in me, the person who paid to stay in their hovel) vacuum not only the guest bedroom, but their entire flat. The girlfriend immediately screeched “Man Child!” because he was supposed to do it. I insisted that I can do it, but the girlfriend firmly told me that she had asked Man Child to do it so therefore he has to do it. Man Child did vacuum then and there, but he also fed me the excuse that “I was too tired last night” several times despite me being very vocal about being so unwell.

Once the floors were vacuumed I miraculously recovered. I was better. No more coughing, no more wheezing, and I was myself again. I was so thankful, but then I faced the horrible realization that it was their general filth and squalor that was making me so sick, not their dog. In fact, the dramatic colour change of the carpets once vacuumed thoroughly disturbed me. At that point I was absolutely disgusted and appalled by the conditions they live in when they have paying guests. We only stayed at this apartment for three more days, and my friend and I decided to not be there as much as possible and to try and avoid socializing with Man Child.

That night I cooked a simple meal for my friend and I because I finally had the vigor to do that after being so sick. While we were eating, we had the misfortune of hearing both hosts doing some kind of lackluster sex game; the girlfriend was squealing loudly, and at one point Man Child had her over his shoulder and they came into the hall to display themselves. We did our very best to ignore them and try to enjoy our meal, but then the girlfriend called out to us to purposefully get our attention and ensure that we could see them. Gross.

The next morning came the final straw. I got out of bed at 10:00 AM and went to their bathroom. The toilet had shit all over the bowl, and flushing the toilet did nothing to remove the excrement. That was it; it was too much. Leaving a shit-encrusted toilet for your guests is just too disrespectful. What do they expect their paying guests to do? Clean their literal shit?

The hosts were not home. The flat is located 20 minutes walk away from a Tesco, and my friend and I actually walked to the public toilets there rather than use their unsanitary toilet. My friend and I decided to just book elsewhere and get out of this terrible flat. I tried to contact the hosts, and I really wanted to speak to the girlfriend because she had the maturity that Man Child obviously lacked. I left messages on Airbnb for them to contact me or my friend asap.

Unfortunately, Man Child called me, and I had to explain to them that we are checking out early because their flat is too disgusting with its filth and squalor, but the shit encrusted toilet is blatantly disrespectful to their paying guests. They cherry on top? My friend and I went into the shared living room that day and there were piles of dirty dishes, glasses, and empty ice cream containers everywhere, plus a pair of dirty panties on the floor that were obviously peeled off then and there. What were they doing in the living room? Not that it matters, but they obviously do not clean the couches after…. gross.

On the phone with Man Child I told him that we would come back at around 6:00 or 7:00 PM to return their keys and that we need to have a discussion. Both of the hosts were so nice in the beginning, and we did sit around and chat often enough. I decided that we owe them an explanation as to why we were checking out early, and also because I had a sliver of hope that if we confronted them about their unsanitary home they might change their ways.

We arrived promptly at 7:00 PM to find both hosts sitting in the living room surrounded by the same exact piles of dirty plates, glasses, and empty ice cream containers that we discovered that morning. Man Child left this situation entirely to his girlfriend and handled it like a 15-year-old boy in trouble; he sat there not making eye contact with us, and not contributing the conversation. The poor girlfriend sat there turning more and more red listening to us explain to her that her house is so filthy and unsanitary that it made me physically ill, therefore, we have to leave. She only averted her eyes when we mentioned the dirty panties. The most uncomfortable part of the whole confrontation is that neither of them apologized, nor offered an explanation or even defended themselves. We checked out early, and we did not receive a refund. It was worth losing money just to get out of the insult that is their home.

Airbnb Tried to Evict us the Night before my Husband’s Funeral

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I rented an Airbnb for myself and my adult children. The purpose of our trip was a memorial service for my husband/their father. He had passed away unexpectedly three weeks ago. We checked into the Airbnb on Friday, March 16th with my son’s trained service dog. Shortly after we arrived, the host started texting me about Levi (my son’s dog). I have saved all the texts, ugly messages calling me an indecent person for not disclosing ahead of time that my son had a service dog.

She was rude and demanded documentation, which I provided, even though that was out of line and she had no right to ask for it. We remained in the Airbnb Friday night. On Saturday, my daughter and one of my sons went out to do errands related to my husband’s memorial, which was to take place on Sunday, March 18th. My son remained at home with Levi (my son is 25 years old).

Shortly after we returned to the Airbnb, I had a call from Airbnb telling me that they were concerned about the situation, they had a call from the Airbnb host saying that Levi had been left at the home alone (he was never alone, not even for a second). I told her that he had never been left alone, my disabled son stayed at the house with him. The Airbnb “specialist” said that she would send me of list of alternate places that we could move to.

At this juncture, my husband’s memorial was less than 18 hours away, and we had dinner cooking already. We are reasonable folks, though, and looked at the other properties they sent us. There was only one property in close enough proximity to the memorial service; the rest were anywhere from an hour to two hours away. The property they suggested we move to was $3800 per night, and we were expected to pay it.

That was not possible; the $650 per night we were paying for where we were staying was already too much to spend. My husband had just died, and he was the sole provider. When we told Airbnb that was too much money, they said to both my daughter and myself “Well, I can give you an hour.”

I said, “An hour to what?”

And she replied, “An hour to get out!”

They were going to forcibly remove us from the Airbnb, myself and my kids and my son’s service dog. I became hysterical. Where would we go? We couldn’t even pack in an hour. My daughter is an attorney and was able to get on the phone with the owner of the house. I’m not sure how she did it but she convinced her to let us stay. Thank God. But the scary thing for me is that Airbnb was going to put all of us out on the street because of my son’s dog. It’s very scary that Airbnb has the power to evict a family who did nothing wrong.

Kicked out of Airbnb Because of our Emotional Support Animal

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I’m going to try and make this as succinct as possible, but there’s lots of moving pieces to this situation that may make that difficult to do. I really appreciate anyone taking the time to read through this.

Even though my rights to an Emotional Support Animal are protected through the Fair Housing Act and Airbnb policy, I specifically filtered for listings that were pet friendly when looking for a place here in Colorado. The listing that we booked did not mention an additional pet fee nor any mention of any requirements for notification regarding animals.

The host of this pet-friendly rental (let’s call him Ryan) who was the property manager and not the owner, initially told us that the rental would be ready at 5:30 PM, but when I messaged him and his wife (let’s call her Dana) yesterday morning (the day of check-in), his wife responded that she was “almost done” and would “have it ready by 1:30”. When we showed up with our puppy (fully house trained, mind you), Dana commented on how cute the dog was. She gave us a brief walkthrough of the rental and then left, stating that if we had any questions or issues that her husband would handle it.

At first glance, the listing seemed alright. However, as I was starting to unpack, my wife showed me that the floor was dusty and dirty, the couch was different than the one in the photos and stained with black spots and some whitish liquid (not even going to venture to guess what it was), my dog found a pill (not sure what kind of medication) and was going to eat it before my wife got it out of her mouth, under the bed was disgustingly dirty, we were missing the amenities described in the listing (TV in the bedroom, no soap, no toilet paper, etc.), and all the furniture was old, broken, mismatched and obviously found on the street or secondhand.

I contacted the host, but got no response. My wife decided to try and clean the apartment in the meantime (took about 3.5 hours). When the host finally got back to me, he stated that because we had “asked for early accommodation” (remember how the rental was supposed to be ready by 5:30 but they changed it to 1:30?) they had decided not to have the rental cleaned before we arrived. He also offered to stop by in a few hours, which I accepted.

Not being fully aware of Airbnb’s policy regarding cleanliness and listing discrepancies, I called customer service and filled them in, but said that I would like to try and work it out with the host in the meantime. He came over, acknowledged that it hadn’t been cleaned, and asked what we wanted to do about it. He did not act apologetic nor did he apologize at all even until now.

We stated that we would like to make this work, but we would need a new couch along with compensation for a whole day being spent cleaning the apartment and dealing with this issue. He then decided to bring up that he wasn’t aware that we had a dog and that they would need to charge us pet rent, a pet fee, and increased rent. I told him that because our dog was an ESA, that she is not a pet and is therefore exempt from extra fees and restrictions that would apply to pets. Also, even if she wasn’t, the listing said it allowed pets and never stated that there would be these extra charges anyway.

When I tried to pull up the page regarding Airbnb’s policies regarding discrimination and assistance animals, he refused to look at them and said he didn’t care about Airbnb policy. The same thing happened when I brought up the Fair Housing Act. He then stated that he would present our request for reparations to the property owners, and then they may or may not approve the dog. My wife pointed out that he was basically blackmailing us into asking for little or nothing in compensation or they would reject the assistance animal, which is illegal.

At this point, he said that this wasn’t going to work and that we needed to leave before storming out the door. However, he didn’t try to force us out right then (thankfully). I called Airbnb right away and explained what happened, and the representative said that he cancelled the booking stating the assistance animal as the reason, and that because of the discriminatory nature of this case I would be contacted by the legal team within an hour or two for further assistance and “rebooking assistance”. This was around 9:00 PM. I never heard from the team at all, so we ended up having to stay with some acquaintances in the area on their couch.

I contacted Airbnb again this morning (many times, as I had to explain the whole story over and over to new representatives who would transfer me to another new representative), before finally being told that the booking was cancelled. Airbnb offered a $173 credit to make up for the issue (my booking was over $3,000 and we had already cleaned the unit), and sent some “similar listings in the area”. All of the listings cost more than $6,000 for the same dates, and they were one bedroom options as opposed to the two bedroom that we had originally had. Many of them were also missing amenities such as laundry, kitchen, pool, etc.

I hated the idea of taking up legal counsel yesterday, but after making me jump through so many hoops and the negligence to communicate with me in a timely manner, I’m seriously considering it as an option. I don’t know where we’re supposed to stay tonight and I can’t afford any of the listings that are available in the area. What would you do in this situation?

Fight Breaks Out, Airbnb Does Nothing to Help

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Recently, my family and I visited the midwest. We are regular users of Airbnb and, most of the time, whatever issues we encounter are easily remedied by adjusting our attitude or expectations. But this stay was different.

The property was one of twelve hosted by the same person in a suburban area. Because our stay was only four days and we anticipated being tourists, we booked a basement with a bath and small kitchen. We arrived and things went smoothly: the beds were comfy, there was no kitchen (but there was a microwave and small cooler), and our check in was a breeze.

About 6:00 PM, we heard what sounded like a Dothraki horde running laps around the main floor of the place. We would hear loud bangs and even heard glass shatter. I quickly messaged the host and got a reply from a number not related to our host. The responder was, we think, his wife. In any case, she apologized and said they had three dogs and were pet sitting two more. The barking and noise was constant for nearly three hours. Finally, we heard the owner come home.

Night two began at 7:00 PM. We returned to the basement exhausted. The Kentucky Derby was in full swing upstairs. We tried everything we could think of, including purchasing a very large box fan, to dampen the noise. At 11:00 PM, I contacted the host. They said: “We’re at a concert… sorry about the dogs.”

In the meantime, we did our best to stay quiet so the dogs would stop barking. At 2:00 AM, the owners arrived home and it got quiet enough to sleep. They apparently kennel the dogs at night.

At 4:22 in the morning, a large bang jolted us awake. We heard swearing and footsteps and then someone let the dogs out (and not in a funny, rap song way). For the next three hours, we were subjected to bangs, stomps… think of a stampede. I texted the owner multiple times with no response. At 9:40 AM, I had had it. I went and knocked on the main door. No one answered. I did get a text saying that we had just woke them up. The wife of the owner apologized and said a friend had come home drunk at 4:00, so it wasn’t their fault.

Then, we started hearing a fight break out. Women were screaming. A man was ranting about losing money and we heard a woman say, “You f***ing turned our home into a hotel and those mother f***ers can go to hell!”

Then we heard shuffling and chaos and the lady screamed: “Help!”

I tossed my car keys to my kids and told them to go lock themselves in the car while I called the police and packed up our stuff. After calling the police, I called Airbnb to report an emergency. I was asked to leave my number and a rep would call me back. I never got a call back. My phone did ring, once, but no one spoke.

The host cancelled our reservation so I couldn’t leave feedback. The host told Airbnb there was no fight and that what we heard was a television. Ten minutes later, the wife, who obviously had left the house, texted us and said she was sorry for subjecting our children to a fight but we shouldn’t “expect people to walk on eggshells when we book a basement.”

Airbnb Host has a Problem with Service Animals

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Here’s what happened to myself and my group in Charleston, SC with an Airbnb host. When we first booked the place, we disclosed that we had a service animal with us. He was not an “emotional support dog” or “therapy dog” or “doggie” as the host called him. This is a dog trained specifically to help someone with a disability. She first asked us if the guest was blind; this was a little rude, but okay…

Our guest does not look disabled, but you do not have to look disabled to have a service animal. It’s like asking someone in a wheelchair why they can’t just walk. I have manners, so I would never ask something like that. She then told us to keep the dog off of every surface in the house and to keep him in the garden. The garden was a junkyard shared with two other random dogs. Mind you, the dog isn’t “well behaved” but literally trained to provide a medical service.

We had the dog with us at every point during the trip and he was in the house only when we slept. He has to sleep with his person so this was non-negotiable due to the nature of the disability. He didn’t get on the couch or on the other beds. While I understand ignorance, this is what followed.

The owner had us followed by her brother who lives on the property. We saw strange people staring at us out of windows and hiding behind cars. We are normal professionals and never once got rowdy at the house. I personally got rowdy and didn’t come back to the house one night, but that’s besides the point. We left the house in pretty normal condition, the only exception being the towels. I put them in the washer and next to it because I didn’t want to ruin the floors or leave them on the beds.

Apparently the single bite of dog food left on the floor and the fact that there was a dog present was enough evidence to charge us $300. We also lost a fork? She then went through the house and itemized everything we did wrong. This included ruining her towels, moving a plant, sleeping in the fourth bed (perfect for midday naps), ruining her sheets, ruining her blinds, and letting the dog poop in the garden. None of these things happened, including us letting the dog poop on the property because we were too scared of the garden. We are also respectful people with access to bags.

After having us followed, being incredibly invasive and rude, and discriminating against a legitimately disabled person, the host had the gall to write this review. This is what I have to say to her. We spent $1000 to stay in a subpar illegal rental in downtown Charleston. Her sheets were uncomfortable, her house was dingy, the floors gave me a splinter, and the only redeemable aspect of this stay was the location. Additionally, I spent two years learning a thing or two about special education and every aspect of her questioning guests violates the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as a basic right to privacy. Sorry about the dog kibble that was “disgusting” but it was clearly an accident. Also, our four legged working professional is a hard working man on the clock and a good boy off the clock.

Guest From Hell Tries to Stay Even Longer

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Based on this experience I won’t ever be hosting through Airbnb again. First, we never know who will be staying in our home: their character, cleanliness, attitude, or past. This lady I hosted for few months in my beautiful little flat was a true nightmare.

The very first day she stayed she emailed me several times and took pictures of my belongings that I had left for my guests, such as shampoo, soap, a blow dryer, etc. Then she took pictures of the cabinets in my kitchen with the dry food and canned goods I also leave for my guests if they are hungry; there was also gourmet tea. She took pictures of all of this nice stuff I left for her and then claimed my flat was dirty.

I kept all of her insulting emails, as clearly she had never stayed in an Airbnb which in this case was someone’s home with belongings inside. As I kept getting these insulting emails, I told her that this was not a hotel. It is the flat where I live, and if she didn’t like my home then she was more than free to leave and find somewhere else to stay for the next two months. She agreed and asked to give her one night to think about it.

The next day she emailed me back and said she wanted to stay. I was hesitant at first because she had been super rude and already complained over nothing. I knew this was not a normal person. A few weeks went by and she complained about the internet and TV not working. She left me another email telling me that she called my carrier and they said I had an unpaid bill. Immediately after she told me this I knew she read and opened my mail in order to have this private information, which is illegal.

I personally almost fainted because I knew this person was literally wanting to know all of my information for some odd reason. The cable and Internet service was resolved that very day. I did ask her how and why she called my carrier and how the hell she got my personal account information. She lied to me and said she just used my phone number. After that I decided to keep calm but felt uneasy.

Weeks later she texted me about the Internet, claiming it was off once again. I explained to her that was impossible – she just needed to reset the TV. She had warned me on how the Internet was vital and it “needed to be fixed now”. Again, very rudely. Several hours later the Internet happened to be working after she decided to reset the TV; it was caused by a storm that previous day.

The day she was supposed to check out at a specific time in the morning on the last day of her stay, I had my partner go over to the flat to clean and check on everything before I flew in. Lo and behold, a half hour after her checkout time, she told me she had to go to work, she would leave my flat late in the afternoon, and she hoped I could wait.

My partner went over to the flat at 3:00 PM and she was still there. Not packed. She asked for his ID and said that he was “trespassing” and there to “kick her out”. She and her so-called “lawyer friend” were in my flat trying to stay longer. They used everything against my partner by threatening to call the police, and saying that he was in Europe illegally. I tried to call her on her cell phone but she wouldn’t answer. Then I was furious.

I came to find out she finally left but wouldn’t leave the keys with my partner. Instead she made a huge scene in front of my neighbors in my building and guardian and said that I “didn’t live here – she can’t be renting her flat out if she does not own it!”

Clearly what this evil person was simply trying to do was to dig into all of my personal business to try to stay in my flat long term. She had issues with people of color and always called my flat dirty, always spoke down to me as if I were some sort of slave to her. On top of that, she opened my mail, which is highly illegal. She ruined my flat with the smell from the pets that stayed there with her based on a bad call I made.

Please get to know the person to whom you rent your home, because not all of the guests are honest. They may see your flat as a place as an opportunity to somehow stay longer. Never leave your personal stuff around so they can snoop. Know your country’s laws and make sure you establish a checkout time that they follow and respect.

Bad Experience with Fake Studio in Hamburg

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My husband and I wanted to spend some time in Hamburg, Germany. We booked four days in September 2017, during my husband’s birthday. I was looking forward to this event and we also booked tickets as a birthday present for the Elbe Philharmonic.

When we arrived at the Airbnb, our host wasn’t there at first. He showed up telling us that there was no electricity at the moment because of a short circuit and he wanted to get it fixed (which he successfully did). The moment we entered the apartment, my husband turned around and looked at me horrified: the stench of a dog was just unbearable. He wanted to leave immediately. I stopped him and thought that maybe ventilation would help. Despite the fact there were strict house rules concerning the guests like “no pets allowed ” (and this made me believe that there would be no cat or dog living there), at least one dog was sharing the apartment with this “host “and his two kids.

The apartment didn’t conform to the pictures in the listing; there was no table in the room, and no chairs in the kitchen. Instead of a bed, there was an old 120-cm sofa for the two of us, and setting up the bed was only possible by putting some support items below one part of the mattress. The apartment was raised off the ground floor with huge windows and no way to darken them – no curtains or other items – but the pictures showed something else.

We found the dog’s food bowl in the kitchen sink. Worst of all: the disgusting smell of the apartment wasn’t gone when we came back into the “studio” (the space offered on the website), just the opposite – the smell increased. We found out that the smell was worse because one of the pillows must have belonged to the dog.

Because my husband suffers from dog allergies he could not stay in there any longer and had to leave the place, spending the night in our car. Of course I couldn’t get any sleep but preferred to stay in the room, waiting for my husband to come back and take me somewhere else (it was his birthday that day – what a pity). Meanwhile I had already informed our host (who had left with his kids to stay somewhere) via WhatsApp that we couldn’t stay any longer, telling him exactly what was wrong with his apartment and that it doesn’t deserve the word “studio” (which he has changed now into “apartment”- and this is also flattering). The terrible smell wasn’t disappearing, despite the fact windows were cracked open all night long (with no way to darken the room – and the surrounding area was crowded, being next to the Reeperbahn).

We both had a very horrible night: he in the car and me all by myself in this room. The host answered my SMS, telling me that he agreed to a refund and that he had already informed Airbnb, letting them know that he agreed with our refund request. We had paid 91 € a day for four days and were assured by the host that we would get the overpaid sum back (273 €). All we had to do was send Airbnb a message telling them about the refund and that the host had agreed to it.

This was exactly what we did – and what happened? Airbnb told us that our “host” had already taken payment and we had to get along with him. Great idea! Of course I did never expect to get any money back from this guy, but I thought that this should be the duty of Airbnb – after all, they take money from their customers. Nothing had happened until now, no answers to my complaints. This is not the way a respectable organisation should act. It was our first experience with Airbnb and for sure our last one. Besides I will tell all my acquaintances to free their hands from this company; it is not to be commended.

Beware of Airbnb Housing with Bad Hosts

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I recently stayed in two different rooms with a lady in Turlock, California. While she was very nice and accommodating, there were serious issues that I felt other prospective tenants needed to be aware of. Airbnb deleted my review. This lady lives in her garage with her three 100-lb dogs. There was no bathroom out there and the dryer was not vented to the outside, which was a serious fire hazard and can cause carbon monoxide and respiratory dangers. The dogs were very clean but she never washed their bedding so there was an aroma of ‘dirty dog’ which permeated the house. They barked and howled loudly at times.

She eavesdropped on my phone conversations, at one time standing in my doorway with her arms crossed until I hung up. She seemed to have some serious mental health issues. There were family photos in the bedroom, two of which were quite large and inappropriate for a room being rented out to the public. She did not let me use the washer/dryer and I could not have cooked unless I had brought my own pots/pans, spices, and cooking utensils, as she does not cook.

Although this is a ‘B&B’ there are no breakfast items ever available, whether it be cold cereal, muffins, or even toast. If you have a problem, do not expect Airbnb to resolve it. They have lousy customer service and are only concerned with their hosts, not the guests. I had to fight to not be required to pay the cost of the entire reservation, and she got to keep almost three weeks I had paid with no refund. I paid for housing in two locations for that time, and I cannot afford that. I will never ever use this service again; they are disreputable and the hosts are not screened.